Questions on visiting Castles and Historic Houses

[CCSauceda]

Hello,

 

I will be traveling on the Glory on April, 10 and wanted to know how to get around to see Blackbeard's castle as well as some of the historic houses in St. Thomas. Has anyone ever been? Are they worth seeing? How do you get to them? I've searched all over the web for maps or clues on how to get there but haven't found anything. Any help is much appreciated!

 

Thanks!!

[sasysutler]

we did the city bus tour.. yes, we went to Blackbeard's. It was really worth the adventure, and there is a pool there you can swim in.

[Ms411]

It's usually sold as an excursion on the ship, and sometimes includes a harbor tour by boat. Or, if you take a taxi into town, tell the driver you want to go to Blackbeard's and you should be able to walk from wherever they stop you. There's an admission fee to tour the properties.

[CCSauceda]

It's usually sold as an excursion on the ship, and sometimes includes a harbor tour by boat. Or, if you take a taxi into town, tell the driver you want to go to Blackbeard's and you should be able to walk from wherever they stop you. There's an admission fee to tour the properties.

 

 

Thanks for the replies all. Does anyone know how much admission is? I'd like to plan ahead but don't want to pay too much. :o Thanks again!

[mytime53]

Thanks for the replies all. Does anyone know how much admission is? I'd like to plan ahead but don't want to pay too much. :o Thanks again!

 

I thought we paid $12pp last year, but I just looked at their website and it is $14 now. Just do a search for blackbeards castle st. thomas and you'll find their website.

[Jenjer]

Can you do it on your own? Take a taxi and enjoy walking around, shopping and then a dip in the pool and a cocktail?

[mytime53]

Can you do it on your own? Take a taxi and enjoy walking around, shopping and then a dip in the pool and a cocktail?

The $14 is an entrance fee, and doesn't include a guided tour (unless they've changed it since we were there). We spent quite a while there, taking silly pictures with the statues (we have 4 grandkids gaga over pirates, so the pics were for them).

We actually had a difficult time finding a taxi to take us up, as they all thought they'd make more $$$ racing back to the cruise ship to get more passengers. Once we got to town, our taxi driver actually paid another taxi driver to take us up there! Then we walked down through town and back to the ship.

[CCSauceda]

The $14 is an entrance fee, and doesn't include a guided tour (unless they've changed it since we were there). We spent quite a while there, taking silly pictures with the statues (we have 4 grandkids gaga over pirates, so the pics were for them).

We actually had a difficult time finding a taxi to take us up, as they all thought they'd make more $$$ racing back to the cruise ship to get more passengers. Once we got to town, our taxi driver actually paid another taxi driver to take us up there! Then we walked down through town and back to the ship.

 

I looked it up and the website had so much information. Thank you Mytime! I'm very excited now... I love history and especially pirates! :)

[mytime53]

I looked it up and the website had so much information. Thank you Mytime! I'm very excited now... I love history and especially pirates! :)

 

You're welcome. Before passing us off to another taxi, our driver tried to convince us that there was nothing there and we were wasting our time. If I hadn't already seen the website and other's pictures, we wouldn't have gone. DH was really doubting me until we got in and he saw it!

[CCSauceda]

You're welcome. Before passing us off to another taxi, our driver tried to convince us that there was nothing there and we were wasting our time. If I hadn't already seen the website and other's pictures, we wouldn't have gone. DH was really doubting me until we got in and he saw it!

 

Oh wow - that's terrible. :mad: I'll be sure to keep that in mind so that I don't let anyone sway me away from going. :D

[Ms411]

A lot of locals have a closed mind when it comes to this tour, but I live in STT, and have done this tour several times, because they always add something new, and I think they've done a good job with their research and provide a good historical overview.

 

I've done the escorted (with Michael as the guide a UVI student who wants to work with National Parks) and unescorted. Michael was very careful to separate pirate fact from pirate fiction on STT, so I never thought I was getting the Disneyland version of pirates in STT. I think they even tell you where their research sources.

 

I've done several historical tours on other islands, and one thing that's unique about this tour is it explains life in a port town as opposed to a plantation great houseconomy, and how the port of St Thomas had to be protected from potential looters (pirates). So much of this has been omitted from US high school history books, so this tour fills in some of the gaps, I think.

 

Most taxi drivers are only interested in how far they can take you so they can get a bigger fare, or taking a large group so they can collect from many instead of a few. This is not a tour for everybody, but for anybody who has an interest in history, it's very well done.

 

The Caribbean islands played a huge part in the history of the US and Europe, so if history is of any interest to you, you would probably appreciate this tour.

[CCSauceda]

A lot of locals have a closed mind when it comes to this tour, but I live in STT, and have done this tour several times, because they always add something new, and I think they've done a good job with their research and provide a good historical overview.

 

I've done the escorted (with Michael as the guide a UVI student who wants to work with National Parks) and unescorted. Michael was very careful to separate pirate fact from pirate fiction on STT, so I never thought I was getting the Disneyland version of pirates in STT. I think they even tell you where their research sources.

 

I've done several historical tours on other islands, and one thing that's unique about this tour is it explains life in a port town as opposed to a plantation great houseconomy, and how the port of St Thomas had to be protected from potential looters (pirates). So much of this has been omitted from US high school history books, so this tour fills in some of the gaps, I think.

 

Most taxi drivers are only interested in how far they can take you so they can get a bigger fare, or taking a large group so they can collect from many instead of a few. This is not a tour for everybody, but for anybody who has an interest in history, it's very well done.

 

The Caribbean islands played a huge part in the history of the US and Europe, so if history is of any interest to you, you would probably appreciate this tour.

 

Thanks MS... We only have this week and then we're sailin! :D

[Shekim]

A lot of locals have a closed mind when it comes to this tour, but I live in STT, and have done this tour several times, because they always add something new, and I think they've done a good job with their research and provide a good historical overview.

 

I've done the escorted (with Michael as the guide a UVI student who wants to work with National Parks) and unescorted. Michael was very careful to separate pirate fact from pirate fiction on STT, so I never thought I was getting the Disneyland version of pirates in STT. I think they even tell you where their research sources.

 

I've done several historical tours on other islands, and one thing that's unique about this tour is it explains life in a port town as opposed to a plantation great houseconomy, and how the port of St Thomas had to be protected from potential looters (pirates). So much of this has been omitted from US high school history books, so this tour fills in some of the gaps, I think.

 

Most taxi drivers are only interested in how far they can take you so they can get a bigger fare, or taking a large group so they can collect from many instead of a few. This is not a tour for everybody, but for anybody who has an interest in history, it's very well done.

 

The Caribbean islands played a huge part in the history of the US and Europe, so if history is of any interest to you, you would probably appreciate this tour.

i found another site about walking tours of Charlotte Amalie. it's www.**********/ and was wondering if you can give any information on this tour. It's self guided of course...appx how long would the walking tour take? Enough time for a leisurely stroll through all the historic sites mentioned? This sound fabulous to me!

 

blocked out my www vinow dot com

[Ms411]

Most of the self-guided tours are not kept up to date. I'll bet that tour still refers to the Legislature building as green. It was painted late last year, so now it's a vanilla color. They also don't give enough info, IMO, and they miss some interesting details. I doubt that the new Historical Trust Museum is listed. If the fort is still on the tour, that's a mistake, because the fort is closed to the public because they're still trying to restore it. It's funny, because there's a new commercial running locally, and they show some kids directing a couple to the fort! You can't even take a good photo of it, because there's an ugly fence around it.

 

But, to answer your question about how long it would take, probably no more than an hour.

[Shekim]

Most of the self-guided tours are not kept up to date. I'll bet that tour still refers to the Legislature building as green. It was painted late last year, so now it's a vanilla color. They also don't give enough info, IMO, and they miss some interesting details. I doubt that the new Historical Trust Museum is listed. If the fort is still on the tour, that's a mistake, because the fort is closed to the public because they're still trying to restore it. It's funny, because there's a new commercial running locally, and they show some kids directing a couple to the fort! You can't even take a good photo of it, because there's an ugly fence around it.

 

But, to answer your question about how long it would take, probably no more than an hour.

Do you have a better, more updated (;)) "self guided tour" to share? My husband is NOT a beach person and I think he'd really enjoy the history here.

[Ms411]

Let me see what's available online..

[Ms411]

Shekim, if your husband likes history, you should do the $14 Blackbeard tour. There's a small rum factory on the property, and when I took the tour, the guy who makes the rum was there showing how it's made and was giving tastes. There's also an amber museum on the property. The published self guided tours are really limited, imo, and you don't get a feel for the history.

[Shekim]

Shekim, if your husband likes history, you should do the $14 Blackbeard tour. There's a small rum factory on the property, and when I took the tour, the guy who makes the rum was there showing how it's made and was giving tastes. There's also an amber museum on the property. The published self guided tours are really limited, imo, and you don't get a feel for the history.

I guess even the older self guided tour I was reading about will still give us a general idea of what to see and how to get there.

[chacha813]

Are you talking about the Historial harbor safari and shopping tour? I beleive it also goes to blackbeards.Going thur carnival